On The Run in Kenya
Ephraim Mwaura and Eliud Lagat (pictured) want Canadian runners to experience life in the very fast lane.
The transplanted Kenyans – both trained coaches in the National Coaching Certification Program – are guiding Canadian runners through the Toronto-area CanKen Sports Club, with Mwaura having been a sprinter in Kenya, while Lagat was a distance runner.
“We try to train Canadians in the Kenyan style,” says Lagat, whose running background includes a blisteringly fast one hour and 53 seconds in a 2000 half-marathon and two-hour and 11-minute marathon in Hamburg in 2002, and who says Canadian distance runners can hone their skills by training in his distance running powerhouse homeland. “We have an upcoming CanKen Running Talent Workshop where we shall come up with high-intensive training in Kenya. This is the start of our five-year program to nurture and inspire young upcoming runners to soar in the middle- and long-distance races.”
CanKen’s program complements a Kenya Tourism Board wish to host those wanting to improve their running skills, with Canadian representative Susan Webb telling a Toronto audience that Canadians can “go and learn to run with the [world-class] runners and train with them.”
Lagat and Mwaura say those who go to Kenya will train at high altitudes with current and past world record holders. CanKen plans to open a training camp in Kenya that will host Canadians seeking a lengthy high-altitude training program, with Lagat saying an “optimal training program before a competition normally takes three months. We are planning to have the first one-month training workshop done here in Canada, the other two months to be completed on intensive high-altitude training in Kenya with the best runners also preparing for international competition.”
Mwaura and Lagat say Kenyans train long and hard, dreaming of winning medals in international competitions, whereas Canadians often run for run.
“Some people think it’s genetics [that leads to Kenyan running success], but it’s only that they haven’t experienced how hard and long Kenyan athletes train for years to reach their peak in running. For them it’s serious business,” Lagat says.
